Keyed Car.........

What a shitter, at least it wasn't just me, a good number of cars were targeted up a road. Happened a week or so ago, been trying to locate the bastards with a view to leaving some lasting scars.... Now now.... Anyway here you go, makes you sick hey: Had a quote of £700 to repair today by a paintshop near me, the guys specialise in magazine feature cars with some awesome paint jobs on them and they are confident that the finish will be second to none. I've never had this before, is £700 reasonable? They've also said while I'm in I can have my stereo surround and centre console etc prepped and spayed in the body colour which I have always wanted. £950 all in, thinking I'll be biting the bullet in a week or so.

My sympathies, awful. Yes, if only you could catch them at the time...... I think the price sounds very reasonable for the repair. It depends on how they are going to do it really. It looks too deep to T-Cut so are they talking about respraying the panels or some form of repair? Steve

We were going to have a go at wet and drying it back and polishing it back up with a few different compounds and the right kit - mate of mine works at Merc doing smart repair on lease cars that come in. Although the bodyshop told me today that it's too deep, gone through the primer so no real point even trying now. The £700 covers the repair of the damage and spraying the side of the car with all the blending. I was expecting £1k but I was put in contact with these guys for a cash job. The damage to the cars on this particular road has been going on for a number of weeks so I'm confident there is a small chance we might see them in the act.

I would find it very difficult not to look for a pound of flesh off them if caught.Why oh why do people do this, it's just pure wanton damage. Same as burning old unoccupied houses/bus shelters.

I dread this kind of thing. It's never happened to me but hell would know no fury like the rath that would come to the culprit if I ever caugyt them in the act. They would be making a big mistake.

id put up a cctv camera to watch the car/street and have it on 24/7 ,cameras are cheap as chips these days

That is HARSH beyond belief! I took my centre console and horseshoe surround to a decent body place near me and made sure they used Porsche paint and lacquer, came out a treat, cost £200.00 a fraction of the cost from Ebay ! Should put a a smile back on your face when returned !

Jealousy my friend - some toe rag lashing out on society for their own failures. Happend to my brothers brand new car a few weeks back just after he took delivery, not good. You shouldn't have to, but I hope you get it sorted without too much pain.

Repair price and methods sound good l like the camera idea too must admit I've thought of having one on the drive but was told there are a few rules regarding recording in a public area. ( as the camera would look down the drive onto the street )

if you look on the net for info about cameras this is what you will find: If you are installing CCTV to protected your property (even cars in the street) then this is totally legal to do. You do not need to register under the DPA Act as it is a domestic premises. As a word of advise the best camera angle is one at low level as used in evidence you will need to make sure that it is the person. A persons head is no good and a bad lawyer could get someone off with ease. 6 to 7 ft is about right but what about vandalism? Many systems come with an alarm out which if you have a security system can be linked into the tamper of the alarm. The other is to use a loop and take this back to the alarm panel. Unless someone can get to the back of a camera 9 times out of 10 you have got them before they know. Legal side. Reporting traffic wardens who were driving danegrously in and out of parked cars in a residents area bought down on the wrath of the depatment dealing with parking tickets only to find themselves severly put into place. As long as CCTV is no facing into peoples windows etc there are no issues. Some claim human rights but conisdering when you go into town you are captured by at least 100 cams this does not wash. There are many comments on the internet that are misleading about domestic CCTV and the public highway. If you are covering your cars etc then there is no problem. If the cam was pointing into your neighbours window and you could see into their house this is a breach of privacy. If you catch your neighbour coming home they are in Public view whislt on the street. Having had the BiB use evidence about 4 times so far, and mainly neighbours also ask if anything happens in the area if I have picked up somthing the only thing I would say about this is do not hand it to your neighbour unless you have asked the Police for permission as this could be an issue if the person in the dock got to know about it. Maplins do a good range of cameras but be weary of packages that come with a basic DVR. You need a night range of about 15 meters to get a good enough evidenc picture at night. Read more: http://www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=165450#ixzz1Z0WigV8o

Sound advice. Also make sure your cameras are a minimum of 520 lines resolution.

I've installed a set bought from Costco-not particularly cheap at £399 but easy to install as wireless & only needs a power point close by to each camera-records onto SD card,can be motion activated-the recorder with LCD screen sits on a top in the kitchen-just plugs in to a socket-you get an audible bleep when activated-however all controllable,etc. Includes night vision (B& W),colour daytime (although colour not brilliant) & 2 way audio. You can add a further 2 cameras,have single or multiple views. I fitted the 2 cameras alongside a front & a rear window(Sash type in our home) passing the small dia lead (but has a larger dia jackplug connector which is on the camera lead) through the side of the sash box at the cill-you then adjust the cameras by taking the recorder upto the room concerned. Yes,the higher position is a negative ,but they are not so obvious there & more vandalproof.

Bit of an update ladies and gents - Friend of mine who works on returning lease cars at Mercedes Benz came round on Saturday with his kit. We flatted back the damage with some differing grades of we and dry being careful not to burn through the lacquer, then used a number of polishing compounds to buff back to a shine. The marks have now all but disappeared. The door is perfect, no sign of damage whatsoever. The front arch, which went pretty deep is almost perfect, if your looking closely and catch the light correctly you will see a 15cm small line but you've got to be looking for it. On the rear they is a tiny mark left and a small bit of burn where we went too far, again though, if you didn;t know about the damage you'd be hard pressed to see it. So the best part of a grand stays in my pocket, well it doesn't as I'm about to spend on some more bits but good news none the less!!

Happy ending and a good friend to know it seems!

Certainly is! He loves his cars so is happy to work with a Carling in hand on cars he likes! How's you car coming along Ben? Andy said he is still working on it, that thing is going to be something else when done!!

Jon, Great news on the car. That could made a massive uneccessary dent in the wallet. Glad its all worked out

Blimey nice work! It looked like it had almost certainly gone through the laquer and taken the paint off. Lucky indeed

Certainly is - I was surprised it came out to the extent that it did! The guys a magician as I keep telling him. Will post a couple of pics when I get chance so you can have a look

Jon, Glad it's been sorted at 'minimal' cost..... Paul

have a look: